The government has said that the projected investment in telecom sector by the government and the private players during the 12th Five Year Plan period (2012-17) is Rs 9,43,899 crore.

"The targets for the Twelfth Five Year plan include, inter-alia, provision of 1,200 million telephone connections by the year 2017," The minister of state for Communications and IT Milind Deora said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Deora said that the government has taken various steps to give impetus to telecom sector growth in the country and to improve the quality of services.

He said a scheme has been launched by Universal Service Obligations Fund to provide subsidy support for setting up and managing 7,353 infrastructure towers in 500 districts, spread over 27 states, for provision of mobile services in the specified rural and remote areas, where there is no fixed or wireless coverage.

"7,317 tower sites and 16,254 base transceiver stations have been commissioned by service providers as on November 30, 2013," he said.